$7-a-gallon gas?

$7-a-gallon gas?

President Obama has a solution to the Gulf oil spill: $7-a-gallon gas.
That's a Harvard University study's estimate of the per-gallon price of the president's global-warming agenda. And Obama made clear this week that
this agenda is a part of his plan for addressing the Gulf mess.
The answer can be found in Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel's now-famous words, "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste -- and what I mean by
that is it's an opportunity to do things that you think you could not do before."

I know personally that the $4 a gallon gasoline from a couple of years ago was a killer. I often wonder if it's what started the current economic dip.
Imagine what $7 a gallon gasoline would do. Everything from pickles to bubble gum would have to increase in price. The United States runs on oil. We
use about 20 MBPD (Million Barrels Per Day) and choking the price before newer clean energy sources are available could be catastrophic.

Harder Than it Looks. Reducing oil consumption and carbon emissions from transportation is a much greater challenge than conventional wisdom
assumes. It will require substantially higher fuel prices, ideally in combination with more stringent regulation.

Here the gasoline costs €1.45 per liter, roughly $6.5 per US gallon. And the prices sometimes go even higher, during Katrina it was well over
€1.50 per liter here. Not exactly very cheap, but alternative fuels – like hydrogen – are banned with a very high penalty tax (€500 per day)
if you get caught using them in traffic.

Taxpayers pay for everything one way or another. If they fine the company it gets passed on to the pump. IF they tax the product it gets passed on.
If they bailout the company it gets passed on. If they don't bail it out and it goes belly up, we get to pay all the unemployment benefits.

The end user is the only person that pays for anything! Which is exactly how we can influence the outcomes, but it takes concerted effort, and we
just aren't that committed.

It's a lot different over here. EVERYTHING revolves around petrol. For example, how many countries could you visit in Europe driving for 24 hours?
Here in Ontario you wouldn't be out of the province yet.

The electricity probably still comes from the Petroleum product. Maybe Coal, but probably Natural Gas. If not, well then all the plastic in the Golf
Cart and all the chemicals in the battery surely came from Petroleum.

How about we walk or bike instead? Or, we just don't work and drive so dam much. How about we all take a step back to simpler times! Use Glass
instead of Plastic, Pay an extra buck or two for something that will last a few years instead of being thrown away every other day? Stop the two
income overtime rat race and start sitting on the porch a little and enjoying the sound of frogs and jar flyes? Turn off the tube.

Originally posted by intrepid
Well that's surely a good way to ignite spastic inflation. Just what America needs right now.

Btw, why do gas companies always have to make a profit? Doesn't a car maker take it on the nose when they screw up? Toyota comes to mind. But NOOOOO
let the taxpayer pay for Big Oil's screw ups. :shk:

Your post I would say represents the last bit of common sense that still lingers with a few of us, since TPTB obviously have none.

I agree completely, it seems that the government is out to protect all their big interest buddies and screw the public. That being said Obama might as
well have been the one doing the apologizing to BP, even more so since they were a huge backer in his campaign.

$7 a gallon gas will cripple the country. It would have a huge ripple effect around the world as well. No one could afford to go to work, all money
would be spent on housing and food, no investing would happen, no buying of other goods. China and Mexico would see a huge decrease in their export
sales. This would be the worst possible thing to happen, obviously the super rich could still afford things but would hold onto their money just in
case. The lower and middle classes would be wiped out, it would create havoc that we wouldn't recover from in any of our lifetimes. Perhaps this is
exactly what they want.

I believe most Americans, myself included, think high gasoline prices were one of the main contributing factors of the recession. It was too
coincidental that gas prices started to increase in 2007 then all of a sudden we were in a full blown recession. Government of course will never admit
to this but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see how gas prices relate to the economy. In the most simple terms if people are spending all their
money on gas there is nothing left over to go on vacation and buy goods such as LCD televisions and boats. And as much as I hate it, our economy is
based on consumer spending for the most part.

I think the $4+ prices we experienced in the past pushed us to the limit here in America. $7 a gallon would absolutely destroy what is left of our
economy. The American economy simply cannot handle gas prices that high. And as much as I despise the so called commander in chief, I think even he
knows that. I do not think we will ever see gas that high, at least I pray we don't.

As someone who is broke as a joke at this juncture in time it would probably behoove me to be against any policy or policies that would make
gasoline go up to $7 per gallon, but you know we--fellow Americans especially and the world in general--really need to reduce our reliance on
crude and old habits die hard.

We entered the stage of "between a rock and a hard place" many years ago. For a long time there was still time to back out. Then it was too late,
but we were coasting along as usual anyway. Now that phase has come to an end. Since we didn't choose "rock" or "hard place," the choice is being
made for us: now we get both.

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